Dont. That city is awaiting a major flood catastrophe. If it ever gets hit directly the whole city will be under water. That's how low it is.
This is all I got from my buddies in Sarasota so far, since I'm planning a trip in the fall to visit: My favorite Spanish restaurant, and maybe favorite restaurant period, is the Columbia in Tampa. My favorite beach bar is Ka'Tiki in Sunset Beach, which is between Clearwater and St. Petersburg (warning: it's a local's hangout, and a dive. It's not filled with the beautiful crowd). Bern's is always at the top of "Best Steak Restaurants" lists, and in the "Top 50" restaurants in the US. It's not a "tourist trap", though oddly locals don't talk of going there much. At least not the locals I hang out with. Lots of good restaurants for locals, and you can get the smoked mullet spread at most of them. You can get a good sandwich (Cuban sandwich, they just call them sandwiches) and the best devil crab anywhere at Brocato's in Tampa. I avoid Clearwater, if I can help it, and would suggest the same, unless you're fond of tattoo ink, steroids and vomit. I have a ton of other info about golf and fishing and beaches and surfing, if you're interested. Haven't asked about real estate and specific areas and such, since I wasn't interested at the time. But I'll ask now. Any specific/general questions?
Just interested in any information in general. My wife’s cousin and her husband live here in the Treasure Island area. We just made an offer on Mike Alstott’s old house yesterday. Now the negotiating begins. Relatively close to the Rays stadium. When we got here for the week, we didn’t even fathom we might be buying a house. Got to get away from those Minnesota taxes, we don’t want to die in Minnesota. #thingsoldpeoplethinkabout
@bobrek Tampa is a great city. Picking up a lot in the last few years. I enjoy the balance of life there. I have family that lives there but am also thinking of relocating there within the next year or 2. What would you like to know?
I have family there, its fine for a visit, beaches near clearwater are nice. But I honestly would never live anywhere along the gulf coast again, dealing with humidity and heat sucks, I'd rather just avoid it altogether.
After 26 years in Minnesota, getting back to some humidity would be nice. We have visited my wife’s cousin here now twice. First time, Hurricane Jeanne circled back through Florida. This time Alberto caused more consternation than anything else here. So we are 2-2 with tropical events.
Thanks. Just thoughts in general. Ultimately it is our decision, but I do like getting feedback from all sorts of sources. Never say never, but this will be the last move. The house and area check the vast majority of our boxes. It’s in Treasure Island. Waterfront, salt water pool, well appointed house, nice yard but not large. Room for the grandkids.
@bobrek : I have not lived there but I have an in-law there and have attended conferences there. I really like Tampa and I like almost no other part of Florida at all. It's a very interesting town, with great food and a surprisingly nice and healthy downtown area. I kept walking around thinking where all the homeless people at? All kinds of interesting and beautiful natural things within driving distance We saw a couple of gators, (while my in-law there has never seen one in 15 yrs), but anyway I would temper any fear you have of them. The number of kids killed by gators is like the tiniest fraction of those killed by cattle, or dogs, or mosquitos. Even other reptiles, like snakes, kill a lot more people than gators every year. https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/17/health/animal-attacks-statistics/index.html
#FloridaMan _______ Florida woman rescued after slipping note to veterinarian saying boyfriend was holding her captive, cops say http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/2...yfriend-was-holding-her-captive-cops-say.html
You can't go wrong, steer clear of Clearwater, but other than that... eta: all I can say is that they decided to go south of Tampa Proper, ended up in Sarasota. Didn't want the city. That's it.
I have done business in Tampa area. I spent several months there for a federal trial a decade ago. The beach was nice and there were some nice neighborhoods but I don’t know why anyone would want to retire there unless they were from there or had serious roots there. There are very nice areas in the Tampa Bay area but a surprising amount of poverty too. From a pure quality of life stand point I would rather areas in Texas, California, Colorado or even Oregon. The fishing is good if that matters to you and there would be places to take your grandkids (attractions).
Right...we can't fathom moving back to Texas even though most of our family and lifelong friends live there. For what my wife wants, Florida fits the bill better than other places. We'd be interested in San Diego, but we were looking for a more tax friendly place.
Serious fishing is not an interest of ours. Here is the house and area we are negotiating on. Boat not included.
